Tit-Bits Magazine was published by Editorial Manuel Láinez in Buenos Aires, Argentina from July 1909 through until December 1957, with a total of 2526 editions published. Measuring 34.5cm x 26.2cm, each edition contains approximately 24 page, with some editions containing in excess of 30 pages. Published on newspaper style paper, color is found on the outside covers, with some color printing found within, usually on advertisements or comic strips.
Manuel Láinez Cané (1852-1924) was a journalist and politician who founded his own publishing house named ‘Editorial Manuel Láinez’, which would later be renamed to ‘Editorial EDMAL’. They released their first newspaper in 1881 titled ‘El Diario’, then in 1909 they released their first magazine titled ‘Tit-Bits’. Norberto Láinez de la Riestra, son of Manuel Láinez Cané, took over the publishing house in 1924 following his father death.
Tit-Bits Magazines contain a variety of content, including short stories, puzzles, advertisements, classifieds and comic strips, just to name a few. As each edition was released over time, more and more comic strips started to appear, mainly from the USA, with comic strip characters seen such as Rusty Riley, Buster Brown, Rex Morgan, Terry and the Pirates, Katzenjammer Kids, Buck Rogers and Steve Roper, just to name a few. Only a few pages within Tit-Bits Magazine were dedicated to comic strips.
The Phantom makes an appearance in Tit-Bits Magazine, both on the cover and in comic strips within, under the title of ‘La Sombra’. The Phantom debuts in edition number 1404, with the Lee Falk classic story ‘The Singh Brotherhood’, however only within the magazine and not on the cover. 52 Phantom stories are published in Tit-Bits Magazines, with the final strip appearing in edition number 2492.
The Phantom’s first feature on a Tit-Bits Magazine cover is with edition number 1657. Below we see the front and back cover plus the 2 page Phantom comic strip published within.
The Phantom will go on to appear on another 33 Tit-Bits Magazine covers, 34 in total.
Although not featuring the Phantom on the cover, Tit-Bits Magazine number 2262 contains an image inspired by the Lee Falk story, ‘The Tiger Girl’.
Some early editions of Tit-Bits Magazine printed comic strips without speech bubbles, with the story line found under each comic panel. Below we see 2 examples of comic strips found in Tit-Bits Magazine. The version on the left contains the storyline below it’s respective panel, whilst the version on the right contains speech bubbles as we see comic book strips today.
The Phantom 